If you want to be close up then pay minimum bucks and go to the early rounds. You won't want to be in the stadium is what it sounds like to me.

In rounds 1-2 you will get to see more variety of matches and practice sessions than you can probably handle. By around Quarterfinals time in the Masters Series all the matches are in stadium so unless you are very rich or have access to company box seats or you are a players' coach and family you may want to take that into consideration.

I can give you lots of hints on this stuff, as I've been going to pro events for years. Please e-mail me if you'd like further info. I've been to Cincy, so I can give you info on that particular event.

Generally speaking for Masters level tournaments, the reserved seating is for the main stadium only. On other courts, it's random seating - sit anywhere you can.

As guernica1 said, the early rounds are best. There are more players around, and more things are going on. If you wait until the Thursday or Friday, there's little, if anything, happening outside of the main court.

If you're going to Cincy (which I highly recommend), go to the day sessions on Tuesday or Wednesday. Nights are fun, but there are so many more matches to choose from during the day. You'll get a reserved seat that's some distance away from the court in the main stadium, but you'll get access to courtside seats on every other court (as long as you claim a spot early enough). I was about 6 feet away from Federer, Ferrero, El Ayanoui on the grandstand court last year. Awesome, and totally worth the price.

Whoa--they just censored the word c-o-u-r-t-s-i-d-e in my last post. Very weird.

Another correction--I saw Ferrero on the grandstand 2 years ago. Unfortunately, I think Federer and Roddick will only be on the main court this year, but you never know. If Agassi plays, he will displace other top players onto other courts sometimes.